02.05.03 - The Green Witch
I promised myself that I wouldn't rant about end-users anymore since I hear that management might actually frown at my posting rants about their customers on the web. Goodness knows why, management are a strange species. Couldn't let this go though, must - vent - by - rant - ing - and - talking - with - hyphens - for - effect. Besides, this isn't one of our customers;
Now I'm not going to pretend I know what the word intractable means but I'm pretty sure it applies to Greenwich council anyway. I needed to speak to the IT department there to sort out some mail related issues and so naively, I asked to speak to the IT department. Here is what I got;
Green Witch: Where are you sending to?Now to be fair I commend her for not giving me that information. Reason being that I could have been a social engineer trying to get some info for an attack. Or worse, a foreigner. Fair enough. But what followed next was just frustrating;
splinter: Well all mail to greenwich.gov.uk is being blocked.
Green Witch: Ah well that's it then isn't it? You need to send mail to a specific person, like mike@greenwich.gov.uk.
splinter: ...
splinter: Uhm, no all mail to your domain is being blocked, like anything@greenwich.gov.uk.
Green Witch: ...
splinter: Can I speak to your systems administrator please?
Green Witch: Oh we don't have one. All our IT stuff is outsourced.
splinter: Oh. Could I get some contact information then?
Green Witch: No I'm afraid not. I can't give out that sort of information.
splinter: Oh, okay. Could you perhaps pass on a message for me then? Could you tell them that <ip address> has been blocked and I would like to speak to them about getting it unblocked please?This "Yeah sure" was said in a way which implied "Can you go away now. I'm freaking busy".
Green Witch: Yeah sure ...
splinter: Great, my name is <name> and I'm calling fro...I sense a little sarcasm.
Green Witch:Yeah sure I'll tell them. Sure.
splinter: Erm, I'm calling from...Okay this last bit is a complete lie. She said no such thing, but she may as well have. It's like she wasn't even trying to pretend to be listening to me. This "not my job so I don't care" attitude is wonderful. It's exactly why we live in such a utopia. If only more people could take note of Greenwich Council's example, the world would be a better place. I wish there was a <sarcasm> tag. And a ticking bomb sitting under The Green Witch's desk.
Green Witch: I said I'll tell them. Now freak off.
I'm getting Zelda tonight, wohoo. Sal tried to wind me up by telling me it's been delayed. I was angry beyond comprehension for a fraction of a second until I realised that Sal, is of course, a moron.
splinter "sweet mother of Zelda" khan